The field of the present invention is child safety equipment.
A story on the news exemplifies repeated tragedies regarding children left in automobiles. According to the report, a man who left his young daughter in a hot mini-van. The man was not the primary caregiver for his daughter but on this particular day was called to care for her. He picked her up from day care and continued on his normal daily activities. After running his errands he went to work. On this day the local temperature was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. After about an hour or so, he remembered that the child was with him and that she was still in the car. Temperatures inside the car had reached over 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The child was dead.
For over the past ten years nationwide hyperthermia related deaths caused directly from children being overheated in unattended cars have been on a constant increase. In 1992 there was a law passed that required parents to put children in rear seats. The law is understood to have aided in saving children from dangers associated with being in the front seat. However, the effects of the child sitting behind the adult or driver in the rear seat may have resulted in the increase of hyperthermia related deaths in cars. Unfortunately, out of sight is out of mind in some cases, and heat related deaths have increased to 42 deaths per year nationwide.